Locals school officials like governor's funding plan but call it 'divisive'

Like many state lawmakers, business leaders for Vacaville-area school districts agree with the intent of Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed education funding plan, saying its goals are admirable, but they see his desire to shift more money to poorer districts as somewhat controversial.

Although Vacaville Unified schools will not gain or lose from the Democrat's proposal, Kari Sousa, the district's chief business officer, called it "a very divisive issue across the state."

"There are only so many dollars" guaranteed under Proposition 98, the state law that requires a minimum percentage of the state budget to be spent on K-12 education, she noted.

"So any redistribution of dollars, the taking of dollars from other (wealthier) districts, after experiencing five years of constant budget reductions, is a difficult challenge for any district to support," said Sousa, alluding to the political upset that has emerged since Brown initially outlined his plan.

Her comments come as the state Senate today will recommend SB 69, offering significant changes to Brown's sweeping plan for the way schools are funded. It is the result of several committee hearings, briefings and caucus discussions led by state Senate pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who chairs the Senate's Budget and Education Committee.

Also, Brown's plan, called the "local control funding formula," would end almost all categorical programs, those that receive specially earmarked state funding, which can be spent only for specific purposes, such as economic impact aid, special education and home-to-school transportation.

By collapsing that funding into one large pot of money, it will give school districts wider latitude on how they spend money on staff and programs. Under Brown's plan, it also would provide poorer districts, that is, those with a high percentage of low-income children and a majority of English language learners, with a disproportionately larger share of state aid.

Under Brown's plan, all students would receive a base grant that restores most of the money that districts have lost since 2007-08, or about $6,800 per student. In addition, districts would receive another 35 percent, about $2,400, for every English learner or low-income child, as a "supplemental grant." Districts with only high-needs students, many of them urban, such as Fresno, Santa Ana and Long Beach, would receive an additional $1,100 per student, as a "concentration grant." The governor has promised that no district will receive less money under the formula than it got last year, and a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan think tank, indicated most adults support his plan.

But Brown, who spoke to a group of California school superintendents on Wednesday in Sacramento, is running into reluctance from his own party, including lawmakers who represent affluent areas, such as wealthy enclaves in Marin and Contra Costa counties, that would not gain as much under his plan.

SB 69 would redirect the concentration grant -- estimated to be $2.5 billion, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office -- to increase the base and supplemental grants for all districts.

Kelly Morgan, assistant superintendent for business services in Fairfield-Suisun Unified, said the passage of Proposition 30 last fall, which boosted the amount of taxpayer dollars available to K-12 schools, has led to "a ripe time to do something different" about school funding.

"But I'm not sure if Brown's plan or the Senate's plan is the right plan," she said, adding that FSUSD would benefit "to some level" from the governor's funding formula because of the district's demographics.

Still, some of her counterparts in other Solano County districts are upset that they might see less state funding under Brown's proposal.